I am a UK-based Outsider Artist working under the name SLART, born in 1982 and currently living and working in Swindon, Wiltshire.
My work explores what it means to be human. I paint people not as they appear on the surface, but as they feel beneath it. My subjects carry their stories, wounds, humour, contradictions and quiet resilience. Through bold colour, expressive line and emotionally charged composition, I aim to reveal and disarm the hidden struggles we all carry.
Art became essential to me early in life. At eight years old, I discovered that I had been adopted by my grandparents. That revelation shaped my identity and set me on a lifelong journey of introspection, connection and self-understanding. Drawing became both refuge and language. Long hours spent sketching cartoons and animals evolved into a deeper fascination with people and personality. Today, that fascination remains central to my practice.
I returned seriously to painting at 37 after nearly two decades away from formal art education. As a self-taught artist, I rebuilt my practice from the ground up, studying under Caryn Koh, Rory Walker, Paul Exton and Bill Cocks. Since 2021, I have developed a substantial body of work, exhibiting consistently across the UK and Europe, averaging five shows per year. My work has featured in group exhibitions in the UK and Germany and in two well-received UK solo exhibitions.
My paintings intertwine memento mori, spirituality and nostalgia. Having experienced chronic illness and periods of deep personal challenge, I paint with an acute awareness of mortality. The philosophy of memento mori is not morbid in my work. It is clarifying. It sharpens the present moment and elevates the human figure into something both fragile and defiant.
Influenced by Jean Dubuffet, David Shrigley and Keith Haring, I embrace expressive distortion, immediacy and emotional honesty. I primarily work in oils and acrylic on large canvases. I begin with a loose concept or reference image but allow the painting to unfold intuitively. The process is alive, responsive and often surprising.
Alongside studio practice, I am also a muralist, producing commissioned outdoor works that bring expressive figurative art into public space. Whether on canvas or on a wall, my aim remains the same: to create conversation starters that connect people to themselves and to each other.
At its core, my work is about courage. The courage to confront mortality. The courage to reveal vulnerability. The courage to live fully in spite of uncertainty.
Through painting, I make sense of existence. And I invite others to do the same.
